To democratize venture capital, ARK created a fund that eliminates the traditional 20% carried interest (a share of profits). Instead, it charges a flat 2.75% management fee. This structure aims to give retail investors with as little as $500 direct access to premier private company cap tables without the performance fees that typically benefit fund managers disproportionately.

Early-stage biotech companies struggle to navigate clinical development for autoimmune diseases. Disease-specific foundations hold crucial insights on patient subsets, recruitment, and key opinion leaders, yet the interface between VCs and these foundations is often inefficient and difficult to navigate, leading to missed opportunities and flawed trial execution.

Thrive Capital's strategy of making a few large bets is not just for financial returns. It's an ideological choice to align with "life's work founders" for whom their startup is a portfolio of one. This ensures every win feels great and every loss hurts, creating true skin in the game.

ProKidney's significant funding from co-founder Pablo Legorreta and investor Carlos Slim was driven by their direct family experiences with kidney disease. This shows that for high-risk, long-term biotech ventures, a deep personal connection to the mission can be a more powerful motivator for investors than purely financial interest.

The most fulfilling and effective angel investments involve more than capital. Founders benefit most from investors who act as operators, offering hands-on help and staying involved in the business. This approach is more rewarding and can lead to better outcomes than passive check-writing.

This structure offers fundraising flexibility by appealing to two distinct investor types. Some investors prefer the diversified, lower-risk profile of the central hub, while others want direct exposure to a specific high-potential asset or disease area within a subsidiary spoke. This broadens the potential capital pool.

The initial capital for a new fund-of-funds doesn't come from cold outreach to institutions. The process mirrors an emerging VC's first fundraise, relying on a personal network of operators, VCs, and high-net-worth individuals who already believe in the founder. The strategy is to work the existing network outward, not pitch institutions from day one.

In the rare disease space, success hinges on deep patient community engagement. Smaller, nimbler biotechs often excel at creating these essential personal ties, giving them a significant advantage over larger pharmaceutical companies.

A clever strategy for first-time fund managers is to raise smaller checks from a large number of operators and domain experts. While harder to execute, this turns the LP base into a powerful, built-in expert network for diligence and support, converting a fundraising challenge into a strategic asset.